May 29, 2026
Seventh Annual Stone Soup Contest for Novels and Long Form Fiction
The Seventh Annual Stone Soup Contest for Novels and Long Form Fiction The longer your story, the more difficult it is to keep the story all together. For those of you whose stories pull you towards long form fiction, then please accept the challenge of this contest. Getting a story to 8,000 words, much less ... <a title="Seventh Annual Stone Soup Contest for Novels and Long Form Fiction" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/stone-soup-novel-contest/" aria-label="Read more about Seventh Annual Stone Soup Contest for Novels and Long Form Fiction">Read more</a>
Active Stone Soup Contests
Submit to a Stone Soup Contest
May 15, 2026
She sat.
She sat as they stood, waiting. The seated passengers in her row stood and drifted to rows behind to make space.The driver’s hand twitched and tensed.She sat.The driver inhaled sharply,grimly snapping the silencethat had forced the other passengers to stand.She sat but was torn from the sharp metal seat,torn from the jouncing and creakingfor trying ... <a title="She sat." class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/poems/she-sat/" aria-label="Read more about She sat.">Read more</a>
New
The Child Who Runs Down the Street
The child who runs down the street is clothed in sandals. They cling to her toes, strapped, slapping on the concrete gravel that grits the bottom of the shoes. The sandals thud hard against the hot street, making her feet thick with a tortoise shell of calloused skin. It’s a hill she runs on. Down, ... <a title="The Child Who Runs Down the Street" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/stories/the-child-who-runs-down-the-street/" aria-label="Read more about The Child Who Runs Down the Street">Read more</a>
May 13, 2026
Long form Fiction
May 12, 2026
Revising
In 1833, when Balzac was writing Eugénie Grandet, there were no computers. There were no typewriters. Balzac wrote in ink, by hand. The first time he saw his work in print was on page proofs sent from the printer. What we see on this remarkable page, held at the Morgan Library in New ... <a title="Revising" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/revising/" aria-label="Read more about Revising">Read more</a>
Stone Soup Art
Colophon for StoneSoup.com
One of my primary goals redesigning the Stone Soup website was to make the site feel more like a book. Stone Soup has long said that we show respect for our writer’s work through how we present that work but in reality that idea that through design one shows respect for the writing was limited ... <a title="Colophon for StoneSoup.com" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/stone-soup-colophon/" aria-label="Read more about Colophon for StoneSoup.com">Read more</a>
May 11, 2026
Stone Soup Stories
May 10, 2026
Publishing Agreement
May 7, 2026
When is your story a “memoir.”
A memoir is a kind of story. It is a story you tell about an experience in your life that mattered—something you lived through, something that changed you, something you want to understand by writing it down. As a memoirist, you can use any storytelling method you have learned: scene, dialogue, character, voice, the shape ... <a title="When is your story a “memoir.”" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/when-is-your-story-a-memoir/" aria-label="Read more about When is your story a “memoir.”">Read more</a>
May 6, 2026
Theoretically
As we lay in the sharp blades of wet grass You told me that Theoretically We all turn to walls When we don’t know I’m not quite sure I understood. My focus might have drifted. Up and away Theoretically, I knew what you were Talking about. But, as you continue to carefully manipulate your words ... <a title="Theoretically" class="read-more" href="https://stonesoup.com/poems/theoretically/" aria-label="Read more about Theoretically">Read more</a>